Editorial: Another Delta Voice Chimes In

The Public Policy Institute of California last week issued another of its periodic reports on the ongoing Herculean effort to better manage the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, and it's well worth reading (www.ppic.org).

Unlike the massive Delta Plan that is about to be adopted as a blueprint for long-term planning, or the Bay Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) draft that is being dribbled out in humongous chunks, the Public Policy Institute's 35-page report succinctly explains how those pieces of legislation are supposed to work together to improve both the health of the Delta and the ability of Californians throughout the state to count on using the Delta for water needs.

The PPIC researchers also sensibly point out what's still missing from both plans, such as their failure to look ahead at potential effects of climate change or the lack of an integrated approach to Delta science.

Perhaps most intriguing are the results of confidential surveys PPIC researchers conducted among scientists and Delta stakeholders. It turns out that most people pretty much agree on the most important steps needed to repair the Delta ecosystem -- and the governor's proposed $23 billion water tunnels aren't on the list.

Rather, the top ways to improve the habitat include "introducing more variability in water flow, reducing water exports, expanding seasonal floodplains and tidal marshes in the Delta, improving upstream spawning and rearing habitat, and removing selected dams," the PPIC says.

While scientists are more uniform in their agreement about these efforts, stakeholders are generally more enthusiastic about the solutions that won't change what they themselves are already doing.

As the PPIC authors stated: "A strong majority of scientists considered flows and habitat to be high-impact stressors, and most stakeholders agreed. The exceptions were groups benefiting most from actions causing ecosystem stress. Delta residents, who live and work in the highly altered landscape of today's Delta, were least likely to rank habitat alteration as a serious problem. Similarly, exporters and upstream interests, who benefit daily from water diversions, tended to view flows less negatively."

It's an attitude that can be seen in Solano County, where officials often seem more intent on preventing a loss of taxable farmland than being willing to acknowledge that returning some acreage to marshland could improve the overall health of the Delta, as well as potentially launch new taxable ventures, such as ecotourism.

Yet, unless everyone is willing to give up something, the Delta will continue its downward spiral that satisfies no one.

Of course, giving up something doesn't mean giving up everything. Local officials are right to insist that those who live and work in the Delta must have a seat at the table where Delta decisions are being made.

And Solano's legislators are right to remind other government officials that the Delta reform efforts have a dual purpose: to ensure a reliable water supply AND to improve the environment. The swift and united front they presented last month to a statement by one of Gov. Jerry Brown's appointees was impressive.

"BDCP is not about, and has never been about, saving the Delta. The Delta cannot be saved," Natural Resources Agency Deputy Director Jerry Meral reportedly stated in a conversation overheard by the director of Restore the Delta, who posted the quote online.

As the comment began circulating among bloggers, Assemblymembers Jim Frazier and Mariko Yamada and state Sen. Lois Wolk, all Democrats representing Solano County, were among Delta legislators to push back.

Some BDCP critics called for the deputy director's resignation, but a department spokesman said the comments were taken out of context, and political commentator Dan Walters of the Sacramento Bee called the flap a tempest in a teapot.

" 'Saving the Delta' is not, and cannot, be a goal," Mr. Walters wrote, "because as virtually everyone acknowledges, the Delta now is an ecological mess that ill serves both wildlife, especially salmon, and water users. It is, moreover, nothing like its seasonally swampy natural state; it is now a man-made complex of agricultural islands with water flows controlled by upstream dams and diversions from its southern edge."

That is in line with another excellent point made by the Public Policy Institute: The historic Delta is long gone and it's too late to bring it back. But the Delta Plan and the BCDC should be guided by science and work to improve what's there now, to "support desirable species while acknowledging that humans will continue to rely on the region's land and water resources."